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Berchtesgaden, Germany

I was actually complimented on my German today which made me feel quite proud of my stilted efforts. A tourist was asking an Austrian man for help at the bus station and he couldnt make himself understood in his limited English back to them so I naturally jumped in and helped as we were standing right next to them. He then struck up a conversation with me in German and complimented me. How sweet because I really don’t think my German is very good at all.

Today we headed back to Berchtesgarden to experience a salt mine. We were going to do this at Hallstatt where there is an old mine, so were pleased to find there is a very good one here. We had seen it on route to our Eagles Nest tour the other day and were sure we could manage a do it yourself option well, that is once we worked out the buses.

We walked from the Holiday Inn to the main station terminal which took about 15 minutes, but should have been less if our GPS had not had a hiccup in locating and tracking us. Then we found the right bus stand with good information from a blog on our IPAD which was fortunate as there was no one working at the bus terminal information and ticketing desk on a Sunday!

The bus route had a stop right at the mine, so it was an easy and cheap option. We had a bit of time before an available guided tour so we grabbed a quick lunch at the mine tourist cafe. Pictured is the potato salad – yep looks like mush. They don’t seem to understand al dente potato cubes in Bavaria :-), however their particular white sausage is very good – oops I think I have mentioned that previously. They are very tender, moist, juicy and delicate.

In order to do the tour you have to put on a pair of overalls which was hillarious for Vernon who has nearly forgotten how to put them on. Only joking but he does add that it felt funny, I think he looked cute and it did remind me of a life that seems so long ago when he would be in the Norske Blues everyday.

After you are all dressed like dwarfs off to work in a mountain, you straddle a little train very similar to what children sit on in parks, jammed 6 to a carriage so close with your legs around the person in front that there is no space between you. Not nice if you like personal space thats for sure, or worse if the person behind you is not your spouse! They take a photo as you are not allowed cameras inside (pooh) and then you move off deep into the mountain through a narrow and low brick tunnel for about 1800ft and about 10 minutes travel time. As a recovered claustrophobic I must say I began to feel a little anxious as we seemed a long long way in with no quick escape route. I then got flashes of Pike River disaster and had to work hard with internal self talk to dispel the visions of pending disaster on the video screen of my mind. No freaking out, but a bit of relaxation breathing for sure!

When we alighted our guide was waiting and we spent a further 40 minutes on an excellent tour deep inside the dark damp mountain. The tour took us into caverns, down traditional wooden slides (you only had to wrap your legs around your partner this time – it was fun), viewed equipment dating back to 1800’s, laser shows, a salt lake, extraction equipment and an educational room with interactive displays.

In the first cavern was an empty salt lake – hole and while we listened to our english audios and the guide spoke in German to explain the process we saw a laser show of blue lights and more demonstrating this huge lake filling with water etc. Very clever technology and a good distraction for me LOL.

A highlight for me was when we went down to a current salt lake – it was so beautiful I forgot we were 4 levels down. In the very subdued light the water was crystal clear and the floor of the lake was like a moon scape with craters and ravines in browns and golds and creams. We boarded a boat and silently glided across the lake with classical music and a further light and laser show on the ceilings and walls depicting the live development of salt that was taking place in the silent body of the mountain. It was simply spectacular and so worth going and conquering fears.

Another interesting artefact was an original Reichenbach Pump on display (inside the mountain) which was made in 1817 and in use for 100 years. It was a huge advanced engineering feat, made of bronze and about 14 ton and 12 foot tall. It looked like a rocket ship or time machine – rather lovely for a piece of hard working clever equipment. The salt mine is still a current working mine and has been in operation since the 1500’s. Salt mining in the area dates back to the 12th century.

We boarded the little train again at a different spot and I said to my fellow passenger- time to get close, and he replied “yes just behave until the lights go off” LOL I think he was Italian. Despite my initial anxieties it was a really interesting tour which I would highly recommend.

We caught the bus again and this time headed 5 minutes into Berchtesgarden to transfer to another bus which would take us 11km to Konig See. I was excited about this as it is raved about so much as the cleanest lake and one of the most beautiful in Germany. When we got there we walked past a very touristy street with dour faced salespeople selling food, drinks and souvenirs before coming to the lake.

I was a little disappointed in it, yes it’s green and clear and surrounded by natural forestation but that is about it. Boats have a monopoly and are quite expensive to cruise on. You are not meant to swim – but ****** ducks are everywhere? Some tourists walked on a pier to take some photos – I was going to follow suit and next minute a grumpy ferry employee was chasing them off it. Goodness me, I could not see any harm in standing on there to take a snap but clearly if you were not paying to cruise you don’t get to put your foot on the pier. Humph. Lots of tourists about and it kind of was a “check – been there” moment.

The trip home in the bus was more exciting for me viewing the soft countryside with its pretty farms and small village timber and floral houses, the minty green blue almost fluorescent river winding its way beside the road and the sculptured Alps dominating the background. The Bavarian countryside feels very comfortable and pleasing to me regardless of the weather or time of day.

The weather which had been kind holding off all day broke on the way home and it poured. We had to get a taxi from the bus station home as we did not bring out wet gear with us. I think we would have grabbed one anyway it was so heavy. Before we did that we went to the supermarket at the station and got a picnic dinner of hot meats, salads and a roll which was simple and nice.

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